On Summit

In the last year or so, I've heard many people describe the concepts of  joy, whimsy, and playfulness as forms of resistance. I'm not sure if that's exactly what's been driving our color and design choices as we turn our attention towards the more cosmetic elements of the Akron almost-mansion, but I will admit there's a certain logic to the construct. Today, whimsy stands in stark contrast to the oppressive, corrupt, racist, and soul-crushing political climate we inhabit. More than that though, it can serve as an active refusal to accept the same. I've heard one of the best ways to prepare to fight fascism is to practice breaking rules. Well, what better way to start than at home with the rule that says 100 year old almost-mansions have to be fussy and formal. Readers got a hint of the decorating direction we were going in a previous post about the pink bathroom . Today I want to share a few more updates. A staircase with colorfully painted balusters are picture...

People often buy old houses because they love the quality materials and period details. Fixtures, doors, trim, and hardware can all serve as selling points as one considers buying an older home. From that perspective, efforts to update an older house are often viewed as harmful, especially when the remodeling work can't be reversed. Countless French windows, pocket doors, swinging doors, light fixtures, mantels, tiles, and trim have been lost to time in the name of modern "upgrades". The saying "It's only original once" speaks to the precarity of maintaining a house in its initial state. Still, in the history of any 100 year old house, remodeling happens. It's a rare house that can remain completely unmolested over decades and generations. And sometimes, as we discovered at the Akron almost-mansion, the remodeling efforts become part of the house's story. That's what we found in the pink, first floor powder room. The almost-mansion was built in 1...

It's spring in Akron and things at the Akron almost-mansion are (mostly) moving forward. In my last update on this project I alluded to the fact that we're spending every weekend at the house attending to the business of patching, prepping, priming, and painting. Well, we're still doing that, one room at a time, and actually starting to see some progress. Three rooms are pictured through two doorways. One doorway is arched and the next is rectangular. The closest room is painted yellow. The next room is tangerine. The last room is a kitchen with blue-grey floors. My wife has determined that this house is going to be cheerful, bright, and full of whimsy. I support that initiative and will point out that those efforts begin with paint selection. While I wouldn't go so far as to say we're selecting colors based on name alone, it's nice when the moniker fits the theme. Here you can see we chose Optimistic Yellow (Sherwin Williams) for the dining room, and Cheerful ...

In a previous post I shared that our recent visit to Paris was planned primarily around seeing the Gerhard Richter retrospective at the Foundation Louis Vuitton . There's obviously lots of other things to see and do in the City of Light and I wanted to follow-up with some more pics from that trip. We typically stay in the Latin Quarter near the Seine and a couple blocks over from Blvd St. Michel. It's an area that maybe isn't highly regarded by "travelers in the know" since it's pretty touristy, but like it or not, we're tourists. The fact is it's close to a lot of things we love (Jardin de Luxembourg, Musée de Cluny, the Seine, Notre Dame), walking distance to others (the Louvre, the Orsay, Jardin des Plantes), and it's central enough that you can get anywhere in the city pretty easily. Plus, there's nothing like taking the RER train from Charles de Gaulle airport and entering the city via the Saint-Michel-Notre Dame metro station. It's ju...

Within hours of the announcement that then president of The Ohio State University, Walter Edward "Ted" Carter had resigned, I received an email from the OSU Alumni Association. To the Association's credit, it wasn't a fundraising email. Rather, it was a missive designed to reassure alumni like me that leaders come and go, but the strength of the OSU community rests with its people. I was assured that our great university would weather this moment, move forward, and succeed. To say that letter came at a bad time would be an understatement. My opinion of and support for my alma mater had been in a freefall over the last few years as I watched scandal upon scandal stack up on campus. So, I reflected on my relationship to the university and offered a version of the following as my reply: Thanks for the update. I don't know that my one voice really makes a difference, but I wanted to write and let you know that any time the subject of college selection comes up in my p...

I'll start with some disclaimers. I don't know the first thing about how the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) awards franchises. I expect you don't either. We refer to these civic pleas for major sports franchises as "bids", but what exactly constitutes a bid? Is there a request for proposals I can review? An application? A notice of funding opportunity? Is there a form to fill out? A list of specific targets that a city or community is expected to meet? Some measurable standards? Rubrics? Transparency? If any of those things exist please help me out, because I can't find them. Rather, and by the look of what's happening in Columbus right now, a "bid" for an NWSL franchise consists exactly of a current billionaire MLS owner expressing interest, sending out some press releases, talking to city hall, eyeballing city property, and getting the attention of the central Ohio soccer community. Normally, I'd be excited about the idea of expa...